Improvement in furnaces for smelting lead ores



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` Furnace `for Smeltng Lead-Dres( N0. 59'669, Patented Feb. 9,1875,

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UNITED STATES PATENT QEEICE.

JOSEPH A. HAMILTON, OF J OPLIN CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO D. K. WENRIOH, OF SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FURNACES FOR SMELTING LEAD CRES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 159,669, dated February 9, 1875 application filed December 28, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. HAMILTON, of Joplin City, county of Jasper and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful 11nprovement in Furnaces for Slneltin g Lead Ore; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had t0 the accompanying drawings making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my furnace Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the furnace at right angles to the fire-back. Fig. 3 is a vertical section in a line slightly in rear of the inner plate of the lireback.

The nature of my invention consists, rst, in a lead-ore-smelting turnacehearth, in combination with a water-chamberlbelow the hearth and a circulation hollow jacket or hollow furnace-wall above the hearth, which is open at one side, and has the chamber between its walls in communication with the aforesaid water-chamber below the hearth. It consists, second, in a hot-air drum arranged within the water-chamber and furnished with a supplypassage and blast-pipes, the latter leading to the fire and ore upon the hearth.

By the first part of my invention lead ore can be smelted upon a at hearth and the freed and pure metal run oli' continuously into a receiver, and thus the loss and waste, as well as inconvenience experienced from smelting upon abed of lead contained in a deep vessel, avoided.

By the second part of my invention the fire of the smelting-furnace is made available for heating the water in the chamber below the bed, and this water thus heated is made to heat the air passed into the air-drum, and the blast-air consequently passed to the 'ire and ore in a hot state, and thus the chilling and deleterious effects produced upon the iire and ore by a cold blast are obviated, and the under side of the hearth, as well as the inner plates of the walls at the back and sides thereof, are subjected to the effect of a circulating body of water which preserves the said hearth and plate from rapid destruction by heat, and also prevents the lead and its residuum from sticking to the surfaces of the said hearth and wall-plates.

Arepresents the hearth of the lead-ore-smelting furnace. It is of cast or wrought metal, and has a ange, a, by which to bolt it to its support. The front edge of this hearth is corrugated, so as to form a gutter, b. B is the water-chamber upon which the hearth is arranged and bolted. O O is the hollow jacket or wall, rising on three sides above the top of the hearth to a proper height for forming a smelting-chamber of a given size or capacity. The outer plate, O, of this wall is in a plane with the wall of the chamber B, and the plate C on the margin of the back and side edges of the hearth. By this construction the hollow spaces between the plates C C ofthe wall unite with the space of the chamber B, The front edge of the hearth overhangs the front side of the vessel B and is terminated with a gutter4 or trough, b, of any desired form. lIhe hearth is set with a downward inclination from the back wall toward the front ofthe furnace, and the gutter has a like inclination toward one of the sides of the furnace. rIhis is the best construction, as the ore as fast as slnelted runs off into the gutter, and from the gutter into a receiver, I), or other receptacle.

The hearth might be on a level, and the smelted ore might be drawn over the front edge of the hearth into an oblong receiver; but I do not regard such mode as a desirable one, and merely mention it for my protection.

E is a water-supply pipe, and F a circulating-pipe. Both of these pipes may be connected with an elevated tank or reservoir, K, as illustrated in the drawings. Gr is a blastair drum, open at one end through the chamber B to a blast-fan, and connected with the interior of the smelting-chamber H by means of curved or elbow-jointed pipes I I l, as shown. The drum is below the hearth A, and it, with its blast-pipes, is immersed in the water of the chamber B and spaces formed by walls C O. The under side of the hearth of the furnace and the inner sides of the walls of the smelting-chamber are also in contact with water. The effect of this construction and exposure of the parts to the Water is to heat the Water very hot through said surfaces when the smelting-furnaee is in operation, and, by said heated water, to heat the air supplied for blast before it passes amidst the ire and ore. The water being in Contact with all the surfaces ot' the smelting-ehamher, prevents the lead from adhering to the same.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The hearth A upon which to smelt lead ore and from which to discharge the same as fast as melted, in combination with the Waterchamber B below the hearth, and the hollow back and side Water-circulating Walls C C above the hearth, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A hot-air drum having pipes leading to the lead-ore-smelting hearth A, in combination with the Water-chamber B, the top of which is formed by the hearth, substantially as and for the purpose described.

JOSEPH A. HAMILTON.

Witnesses:

J. N. CAMPBELL, J AMES MARTIN, J r. 

